Archive
BIOENERGY. Latest published applications 2015-2017. Algae
Summary
Algal biomass contains three main components: carbohydrates, proteins and lipids/natural oils. Most of the natural oil produced from microalgae is in the form of tricylglycerol, which is very suitable for producing biodiesel. In addition to biodiesel, microalgae can also be used to generate hydrogen gas under specialized growth conditions, burnt similar to wood, or anaerobically digested to produce methane biogas to generate heat and electricity. Microalgae grow quickly and contain high oil content compared with terrestrial crops. They can also double in size every 24 hours. The oil content of microalgae is usually between 20 percent and 50 percent. Most microalgae are strictly photosynthetic and need light and carbon dioxide as energy and carbon sources. This culture mode is usually called photoautotrophic. The most common photoautotrophic-based microalgal culture systems are open ponds and enclosed photobioreactors. However, at present there are several major factors limiting commercial algal production: the difficulty of maintaining desirable species in the culture system, the low yield of algal oil, and the high cost of harvesting the algal biomass. The applications presented in this bulletin try to solve some of the aforementioned problems.
A selection of patent applications related to the production of biofuels from algae and published by patent offices around the globe in 2015-2017 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found at the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present bulletin includes 1360 patent applications, prepared by applicants from 41 countries and registered in 36 patent offices. The patent documents mention 526 applicants and 975 IPC subgroups.
Key Highlights
The bulletin contains statistical data on the distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The top three patent offices that registered the largest number of patent applications were USPTO (US), EPO and INPI (BR).
Based on the analysis of each of the patent applications, internal characteristics of unified indicators (technical problems, types of inventive solutions, belonging to one or other technological segment) were found, which allowed specific features for each of the indicators for the entire array of documents to be defined, for instance, to define the leading problems or technical solution types that were disclosed by the inventors the most. Document lists are provided for the ten most popular groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators, including their ID numbers and applicant names.
The following information can be found for the top 10 applicants: breakdown of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices, technological indicators, as well as the estimation of their share in the established intellectual property market. The 10 leading applicants by the number of patent documents were: Xyleco Inc. (US), Solazyme, Inc. (US), Mara Renewables Corporation (CA), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) (AU), Infineum International Limited (GB), Reliance Industries Limited (IN), Eni S.p.A. (IT), DSM IP Assets B.V. (NL), ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (US), Heliae Development LLC (US).
The top prominent documents section includes three lists of the top 10 patent applications having the highest bibliographical rating, the largest number of IPC sections, and those not being a part of patent family.
The conclusive part of the bulletin represents the lists of all of the documents reviewed, arranged by the top 10 groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators and by patent offices with the indication of the ID numbers of the registered patent applications.
Who needs this bulletin?
The proposed patent statistics bulletin allows the existing trends in the intellectual property market of the specified industrial sector to be timely traced, as well as the possibility of acquiring a carefully selected list of patent documents fully corresponding to the specified subject. The bulletin can be useful for inventors, engineers, scientific workers, and business representatives, who are focused on the development of biofuel production from algae.
